Brian McLaren considers how authoritarian systems seek conformity. He highlights practices of contemplation and community that can strengthen our resolve and enable us to remain “salt and light” under difficult circumstances.
An expert in authoritarian regimes, Sarah Kendzior captures the danger like this:
Authoritarianism is not merely a matter of state control, it is something that eats away at who you are. It makes you afraid, and fear can make you cruel. It compels you to conform and to comply and accept things that you would never accept, to do things you never thought you would do.
No wonder, in a time of authoritarian Caesar-worship, the early Christian leader Paul wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world. But be transformed by the renewal of your minds” (Romans 12:2). Kendzior addresses this very need for inner renewal and transformation. Authoritarian regimes, she says,
… can take everything from you in material terms—your house, your job, your ability to speak and move freely. They cannot take away who you truly are. They can never truly know you, and that is your power. But to protect and wield this power, you need to know yourself—right now, before their methods permeate, before you accept the obscene and unthinkable as normal.
Although she doesn’t use the word contemplation, Kendzior points to the importance of knowing who we are, centering into what Howard Thurman called “the sound of the genuine” inside us. She continues,
We are heading into dark times, and you need to be your own light. Do not accept brutality and cruelty as normal even if it is sanctioned. Protect the vulnerable and encourage the afraid. If you are brave, stand up for others. If you cannot be brave—and it is often hard to be brave—be kind. But most of all, never lose sight of who you are and what you value. [1]
I am thinking about these authoritarian patterns not only to better understand what’s happening now in my country. I’m also trying to understand my own country’s history—how millions of so-called Christians in [the United States] consented to the genocide of Indigenous peoples and then consented to the enslavement of kidnapped and trafficked Africans and then consented to American apartheid in the Jim Crow era and then resisted the civil rights movement.
Studying biases and authoritarianism is also helping me understand in a deeper way why contemplative practices, and especially contemplative practices in community, are so important right now.
Contemplative practices are many things. Our Christian tradition teaches us that they are pathways into the direct experience of divine presence and love. Contemporary neuroscience adds that they are also pathways into self-regulation…. Contemplative practices—both solitary and communal—help us resist conformity with wisdom and courage.
References:
[1] Sarah Kendzior, “We’re Heading into Dark Times. This Is How to Be Your Own Light in the Age of Trump,” The Correspondent (online news platform), November 18, 2016.
Brian D. McLaren, “Islands of Sanity,” ONEING 13, no. 1, Loving in a Time of Exile (2025): 11–12. Soon available in print and PDF download.
Image credit and inspiration: Paul Tyreman, Untitled (detail), 2018, photo, United Kingdom, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. We walk forward on our own pathway through the sand and stones, aligned and inspired by Spirit.
Story from Our Community:
Poetry has been my practice of self-compassion since I was a teenager, struggling to find myself in the world. I’ve written poetry in the milestone moments of life—from falling in love to having my child and most recently receiving the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. I’m shattered by the unpredictable nature of this incurable disease. Yet, my continual practice of self-compassion showed me that I can still flourish despite the pain and uncertainty of my future.
—Ellen S.
